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Getting Started

This guide will help you set up and run the Local Developer Platform on your local machine.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following installed:

Note

All three runtimes are supported and detected automatically. Docker is preferred when both are available; set KIND_EXPERIMENTAL_PROVIDER=podman to force Podman.

Docker Desktop

Raise the VM allocation to 12GB+ under Settings → Resources. The host may have plenty of RAM while the VM does not.

Rootless Podman

Binding ports 80/443 needs the unprivileged port floor lowered: sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.ip_unprivileged_port_start=80. Alternatively use rootful Podman via sudo systemctl start podman.socket and export CONTAINER_HOST=unix:///run/podman/podman.sock.

System Requirements:

  • 12GB+ RAM available for the container runtime
  • 4+ CPU cores recommended

Quick Start

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/BillyMichael/local-developer-platform.git
cd local-developer-platform

2. Check Prerequisites

make preflight

This verifies your container engine, required tools, port availability, and system resources.

3. Create the Platform

make up

This will:

  • Create a KIND cluster with 1 control-plane and 2 worker nodes
  • Install ArgoCD and bootstrap all platform applications via GitOps
  • Configure CoreDNS for local service resolution
  • Wait for authentication services to become ready
  • Display credentials and service URLs

Takes approximately 5–10 minutes on first run.

4. Check Platform Health

make status

Accessing Services

When make up finishes, it prints the web address of every tool and the usernames and passwords to sign in with. Run make info at any time to see them again.

Browser security warnings

The platform uses its own certificates, so your browser will warn you the first time you open a tool. Run make trust-ca once to trust them and the warnings go away.

Useful Commands

Command Description
make up Create the cluster
make down Delete the cluster
make restart Restart the cluster
make info Show credentials & URLs
make status Show platform health
make kubeconfig Update kubeconfig
make preflight Check prerequisites
make trust-ca Trust the platform certificates

Next Steps